A cam follower of this kind, in this case embodied as a lift deactivation means, is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,626. The torsion springs of which extend on the valve-side end of the cam follower. As a result of the application of the torsion spring on the one end, a relatively high mass moment of inertia is present. Also, unnecessary installation space is utilized which is essentially outside of the geometry of the cam follower.
Further switchable cam followers with torsion spring on the valve-side end emerge from, for example, DE 103 45 307 A1 and DE 10 2006 023 772 A1.
Although the at least one start face for the cam could, in the embodiments according to the state of the art mentioned above, be displaced further in the direction of the support element, in order to provide a contribution for the lowering of the mass moment of inertia. On the other hand, at the same time, the leverage forces would be drastically increased when the cam is activated. Therefore, a “central” position of the respective start face presents a good compromise.